Satin Slippers on the Barricade
by t0infinityandbey0nd
Summary: After a performance to outshine all others, Courfeyrac is left with thoughts full of the young star dancer. He didn't even begin to realize that one of his fellow Amis may also be pining for the ballerina.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Planning

Courfeyrac hadn't even needed to look up from his textbook to know that the rest of the Amis was planning something for his birthday. However, he was not one who liked to spoil surprises, so he let them continue and acted as if he hadn't heard a thing.

But soon, Courfeyrac found it hard to concentrate on his studies when he knew the whispers he heard were about him. Since he absolutely couldn't take it any longer, he abruptly pushed back his chair and made his way to the boys.

Upon seeing him, the rest of the Amis fell silent. Courfeyrac raised an amused eyebrow at them.

"I wonder why you all would quiet as soon as I came around…couldn't possibly be about my birthday, could it?" he mused at them.

Joly and Combeferre exchanged side glances, knowing that they had been caught. Jehan Prouvaire stepped forward to Courfeyrac.

"But Mon Ami, we are certain you will like what we have arranged." He said with a mischievous gleam in his eye. Now he was even more curious to what they were scheming.

"Couldn't I at least have a hint?" he questioned. Jehan merely shook his head.

"Mon Ami, it wouldn't be a surprise if you knew what it was!" he teased.

Courf rolled his eyes at his friends, although if they were being this secretive about it, he knew it had to be something special.

Meanwhile, Enjolras had just been on the lower floor of the Musain practicing his speech when Marius Pontmercy burst through the door. The sudden noise caused Enjolras to jump, and a few of his papers flew out of his hands and onto the floor. Of course, Marius hadn't noticed.

"I just got back from a wonderful day with my wonderful Cosette!" he proudly announced to Enjolras.

"Great" Enjolras muttered, the scowl visible on his face while he bent down to pick up the missing pages of his speech. Marius continued his rant about how lovely his Cosette was.

"-And her hair shines like a field of golden wheat and her-"

"Marius!" Enjolras cut him off.

Marius paused, a confused look coming over his features. "Is there a problem?" he asked.

Enjolras glowered at him "We do not constantly need to hear how 'lovely' your Cosette may be. We are here to bring on a better life for the people, not sink to the level of lovesick schoolboys." He reminded Marius.

Marius simply tuned out his words. "But Enjolras, it is so difficult to do that when you are in love! Haven't you ever loved somebody?"

He scoffed at Marius's words. "I do not have time for love. My life has been solely dedicated to Patria, and I intend to keep it that way."

Once his back was turned, Marius rolled his eyes. "I see the marble man is yet to crack" he muttered before ascending up the staircase.

**A/N: this is just an introductory chapter, future chapters will be longer! Please review!**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

After nearly two hours, the boys still hadn't revealed the plan to Courfeyrac. He was quite surprised, as this was the longest they had ever kept something from him.

They were so caught up in the moment that they didn't notice Eponine's small figure slip through the door and take a seat next to Jehan.

She raised an eyebrow at Courf. "Would anybody please fill me in on what's happening here?" she asked.

Courf gestured to the Amis. "It seems that they are quite intent on keeping the plans for my birthday away from me."

Eponine's eyes sparkled mischievously. "And when were you planning on telling him that you are taking him to the-". She was cut off when Jehan put a hand over her mouth.

His eyes softened and he said "Now, Eponine, that would spoil the surprise!" he jokingly scolded her.

Bahorel and Feuilly exchanged a look. It was obvious that Jehan had admiration for the gamine girl, but the rest of them couldn't tell if she was too infatuated with Marius to notice Jehan's obvious affections.

Eponine giggled at his 'scolding' and playfully smacked him on the arm. "Oh, don't take the fun out of it!" she teased.

Combeferre put his hand on Courf's shoulder. "If you must know, we were planning to take you to the theatre tonight to see the Ballet."

Courf's eyes widened and his face broke into a grin. Everybody knew about his love for the Fine Arts, so it had been an easy decision as to what to do for him. He was practically radiating excited energy.

"Mon Amis, that's wonderful!" he beamed at them. Everyone smiled back at him, relieved that he had liked there choice of an outing.

"Will everyone be attending?" he asked. Combeferre nodded.

"We were planning to bring the Amis, plus Cosette, Musichetta, and Eponine. We are still not sure if Enjolras will be attending."

Courf laughed. "I could go and try to convince him. I'm sure even the Marble Man could enjoy himself there!"

Courf nearly tripped over his own feet while running down the stairs.

"Enjolras!" he yelled.

It seemed that the man had fallen asleep while revising his speech. However, the other man's shouts had woken him up. "Damn, Courfeyrac." He muttered while rubbing the sleepiness out of his tired eyes. He stood up to face him.

Courf took no notice of Enjolras's drowsiness and instead got right to the point.

"Enjolras, would you please come to the performance tonight with us?" he asked.

Enjolras gave a humorless chuckle. "I do not have the time, Courf. With all the revising and rallying and-"

"But its just one night! One deeply enjoyable night!" he begged.

Enjolras ran a hand through his blond curls.

"I suppose there's no way of getting out of this?"

Courf grinned and shook his head.

"I suppose I could come along." He said, resigned.

Courf gave Enjolras a toothy grin before running back up the stairs to announce to the others that Enjolras would be coming. He knew that this would surely be a night to remember.

**A/N: Please Review! It means a lot to me to hear from all of you! xx**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

Everyone was sitting in the café, gushing about how brilliant the performance was sure to be.

Courf was practically bouncing off the walls and counting down the minutes until it was time to leave.

Musichetta sighed. "I remember when I was a little girl, I always dreamed of being a ballerina. My mother even hired a teacher for me." She laughed at the memory.

"Of course, being the little quitter that I was, I gave up after the second lesson, claiming it was 'too much work'" she said

The Amis gave a laugh before beginning to head out.

Enjolras didn't understand why everyone was making such a fuss out of being at the performance that night. He had never really been to a large scale performance such as this before, so he had nothing to compare the experience to.

The group had just arrived and everyone was squirming in their seats, anxious for the performance to start. The theatre had filled up quick, and now nearly every seat was full.

Enjolras looked to his right side and saw Jehan discreetly holding Eponine's hand underneath the seat. However, it didn't appear that anyone else in the group had noticed. He supposed she wasn't still infatuated with Pontmercy, after all.

Combeferre tapped him on the shoulder, and pointed to Jehan and Eponine. Enjolras acted surprised, pretending he hadn't noticed the two prior to this. Now, they had the whole group's attention, and Eponine was blushing, yet she didn't let go of his hand.

Courfeyrac was nearly squealing with delight as he read the small imformational pamphlet.

"It appears they have a new leading woman!" he announced. Then he sighed. "They normally only let the old instructors lead." He explained.

He paused to think before shoving the pamphlet to Enjolras. "I can't look at her name until after I've seen her dance!" he said.

It took everything that Enjolras had not to roll his eyes at Courf's superstitions. But then again, it was his birthday, so he supposed he could put it behind him. He nodded to Courf.

"Well, if you won't look at her name, how do you know it's a 'her'" Musichetta joked.

Courf looked taken aback. He raised a hand to accent his point.

"But its-I-" he faltered, and his hand fell, unable to respond to Musichetta's jest.

Musichetta smiled. "Exactly my point." She said with a wink.

The Amis roared with laughter at her joke. Even Courf had found it amusing.

Nearly everyone in the audience jumped at the sound of the heavy curtains being rolled to the side, signaling the show about to start.

The anxious audience members settled into their seats and the building fell silent.

High pitched piano keys started to play and several dancers stepped out onto the stage. First, the music was soft, and their moves were graceful and elegant and slow.

As quick as it had begun, the music again changed pace; now it was loud and fast, and their dancing suddenly became intense and fast.

An older, stern looking woman stepped out next, and the girls immediately fell into step behind her. They looked absolutely stunning: their silvery white dresses waved slightly behind them and the managed to stay in a line around the stage despite the complicated and twisting choreography.

Men in the back of the large chamber used mirrors to reflect candlelight onto a certain part of the stage, creating the image of a single spotlight.

Suddenly, another woman stepped out into the light and began her own choreography as the other dancers cleared to the sides in their own dance.

Everyone was absolutely enchanted by her performance. Her dancing was perfect; her costume, which was a tight, white leotard with golden, shimmering accents and a tutu that flared out, accompanied my ivory colored tights with white crystalline toe shoes, made her look flawless; in fact, just the way that she moved made her look more beautiful, and the fact that she did all of it on the tip of her shoes made it look as if she was gliding across the stage.

Then, came the finale: the turns. Nearly everyone's jaw dropped when the woman launched into the multi-turn sequence.

Courf squealed "The famous 32 fouettes!" he whispered. In fact, he did count that she did thirty-two turns total. He practically had stars in his eyes while watching the performance.

The performance had ended and Enjolras had to admit that he was thoroughly impressed, especially by the lead. Something about that woman had made him feel as if he couldn't look away from her dancing.

The dancers were coming out to take their final bows and the leading woman stepped forward.

Now that she was up close, Enjolras was shocked to find that she was not a woman, but merely a girl. She couldn't have been older than Eponine.

The stern, older woman took her smaller hand and brought her closer to the audience.

She cleared her throat to silence the audience before introducing the young dancer who just made her debut.

"I present, Mademoiselle Claire Bellefleur!"

**A/N: Please Review J! xx**


	4. A meeting

Chapter 4:

It was easy to tell that everyone was amazed by the show. Eponine and Musichetta could not stop talking about it.

"I wish I had more opportunities to do stuff like this. I would simply love to see a ballet again." Eponine sighed to her friend.

Musichetta patted her arm.

"Don't fret, 'Ponine. As long as you're with us we'll be seeing plenty more shows!"

The small brunette grinned at her taller friend. "Thank you 'Chetta. And it would be wonderful to see that leading girl again. Goodness, she seemed so young!"

Musichetta nodded. "I hear they start the children at the academy in their training very early. But I agree, there seems to be something special about that one."

Eponine chuckled "Probably just some Bourgeois girl." She said. The two girls ventured off to find their group of friends.

Enjolras was starting to be concerned for Courf. The poor fellow had had stars in his eyes for nearly twenty minutes and he couldn't stop gushing about that ballerina.

"-and did you see the way she was gliding across the stage?!" He sighed "Simply breathtaking."

Feuilly leaned over to Combeferre. "Do you think now would be a good time to tell him that we've arranged for them to meet?" He whispered. Combeferre nodded.

However, it seems that they hadn't needed to, because Courf had seemingly overheard then. He was grinning ear to ear, not unlike a child on Christmas morning. He pulled his friends in for a tight hug. "Merci, Amis." He said to them.

The group then ventured towards the front of the hall, behind the stage, to get towards the dressing areas. They reached a curtain at the end of the hall, the one a woman had said was the ballerina's.

Joly cleared his throat. "Madamoiselle?" He asked hesitantly. The group heard a small gasp from the other side of the curtain, then a feminine voice saying "Come in."

Courf pushed back the curtain to reveal the girl sitting in a comfortable looking chair trying to fix her heavy makeup. Through the mirror, they saw her big brown eyes widen in shock as she turned from the mirror and stood up to face them.

Now that they were closer, they could make out her features. She was, in fact, even smaller than Eponine. Her dark brown, almost raven, hair was still tucked up into its tight bun. Now, however, instead of the costume, she was wearing a floor length white robe. She still had dark black liner on her eyes and rouge painted on her full lips.

"I'm terribly sorry!" She explained. "I had no idea that visitors were coming! But no matter, it's quite alright. I am Claire, as you can see." She gestured to herself. "And you are?" She asked.

Courf nearly tripped over himself trying to walk up to her. "I'm Courfeyrac." He said, picking up her delicate hand to kiss it. "And it is a pleasure to meet you, Mademoiselle." He said, obviously trying to be flirtatious.

Claire smiled at him. "The pleasure is all mine, Monsieur." She said. One by one, the Amis stepped up and introduced themselves to her.

Out of curiosity, Enjolras had to ask. "How long have you been at the ballet academy, Madamoiselle?"

Claire thought for a moment. "Since I was five years old. Nearly twelve years." She answered.

Enjolras was surprised. Judging by her size, he would have guessed her to be thirteen or fourteen.

She gave a knowing smile at his look of surprise. "Yes, I know it's hard to believe due to my size, but I have been on God's Earth for seventeen years." She joked. Everyone chuckled at her wit and sarcasm.

She curtain was flung aside by the stern looking old woman from earlier. She nodded to Claire. She sighed at having to leave her new friends.

"I have to go now. Goodbye, everyone. I hope to see you all again soon." She said. Everybody said their goodbyes to Claire and she slipped out. Even though she was not in the room anymore, the thought of her still occupied the minds of two people.

A/N: I'm so sorry I haven't updated in forever! my computer has been crashing all the time and I've been limited to reading fanfics on my iPod :( but updates will be more frequent now! Please review, it means so much to me to hear from you guys!


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